Refugee and asylum seeker health services
Asylum seekers
The Queensland Government provides Medicare ineligible asylum seekers with access to public health services at no charge. The Fees and Charges Health Service Directive enacts this policy position and an information sheet (PDF 279 kB) provides more information on visa types and Medicare eligibility.
Refugees
Refugee health specific services, in partnership with General Practitioners and other primary care health professionals in the community, provide health assessments to people from refugee backgrounds that have recently arrived in Australia (within 12 months).
Service locations
South Brisbane
Metro South Refugee Health Service located at Logan Central Community Health Centre provides care for people from refugee backgrounds settled in the Logan, Gold Coast and Ipswich areas. They work closely with the Brisbane South PHN and the Gold Coast PHN to support general practices to deliver primary care to refugee populations. The service also provides assistance to hospital staff for transitioning people from refugee backgrounds from hospital to home.
Contact phone: (07) 3290 8900
Mater Integrated Refugee Health Service in partnership with Brisbane South PHN works closely with General Practitioners and practice nurses to deliver primary care to refugee populations.
Gold Coast PHN supports five general practices to deliver health care to newly arrived people from a refugee background and also to existing residents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
North Brisbane
A number of general practices work in partnership with Mater Integrated Refugee Health Service and the Brisbane North PHN.
Toowoomba
The refugee health service is located at Kobi House, Toowoomba Hospital.
Contact phone: (07) 4616 6000
Cairns
Community Child Health provides refugee health nursing assessments and referral to general practices for completion of medical assessments and ongoing care.
Contact phone: (07) 4226 4333
Townsville
The service works in partnership with PHN Northern Queensland.
Other services
The Mater Refugee Complex Care Clinic (MRCCC) provides health care to people from refugee backgrounds with complex health needs and a health service to asylum seekers without Medicare. The clinic offers specialised primary health care including, complex case management, treatment, specialist referral and secondary consultation service for general practices. When appropriate, patients will be assisted to reconnect with their community GP for all their ongoing primary health care needs.
Contact phone: (07) 3163 2880 or email: mrccc@mater.org.au.
The Mater Refugee Health Service has created a number of resources for general practices and healthcare professionals working with patients from refugee backgrounds.
Refugee Health Connect (RHC) is a single point of call for assistance with identifying appropriate primary health providers for refugee health needs including assessments and ongoing care for people from a refugee background.
Contact phone: (07) 3864 7580 or email: refugeehealth@bsphn.org.au.
Refugee Health and Wellbeing
The Refugee Health and Wellbeing Project aims to improve refugee health and wellbeing by:
- Establishing and implementing a Refugee Health Network Queensland to:
- provide support to healthcare professionals
- build capacity of the refugee health sector and
- improve partnerships and coordination across the health services, refugee settlement agencies and non-government organisations.
- Implementing Refugee Health and Wellbeing: a strategic framework for Queensland 2016 (PDF 2102 kB) - a practical tool for healthcare professionals and the first step in creating a structure for policy development.
The final stage of the Project is to implement a Policy and Action Plan, a strategic policy structure that outlines practical actions to improve refugee health and wellbeing in Queensland.
The policy and action plan includes 65 actions for the refugee health sector, including:
- collaborating across sectors;
- sharing resources;
- providing culturally responsive services;
- improving access to interpreters; and
- implementing innovative models of care.
Read Refugee Health and Wellbeing: A policy and action plan for Queensland 2017-2020 (PDF 4044 kB).
The Project recognises that many people arriving as refugees have multiple and complex physical and psychological health issues, possibly as a result of:
- traumatic events such as psychological trauma or torture
- deprivation and prolonged poverty
- poor access to health care prior to arrival in Australia.
